The Blackpool Football Club can trace its history back more than a century to 1877, when Victoria Football Club was founded with Rev. James Wayman as president. The club’s first ground was located at Manchester’s Field, off Caunce Street, in Blackpool. Within a decade, the club gave way to the formation of the Blackpool St. Johns team, consisting primarily of the school’s old boys.

By 1888, the players had changed their name yet again to the Blackpool Football Club, whereupon they became founder members of the Lancashire League. Their shining moment arrived at the conclusion of 1893-94 season as they hoisted their very first Championship Trophy.

Blackpool F.C. became a Limited Company in 1896 and made a successful application to join the Football League. The “Seasiders” tenure in Division Two was lost, however, in 1899, and the club had to spend another season in the Lancashire League before regaining Football League entry in 1900—a status they have never relinquished in all the years since.

In 1901, Blackpool began playing their games at Bloomfield Road, which has remained their home venue to this day. For first three decades of the 20th century, Blackpool remained in the Second Division, experiencing varying degrees of success. For the 1923-24 season, they began wearing their famous tangerine kit for first time. George Mee was the “iron man” of that period, setting a club record that stands to this day with a sequence of 195 consecutive appearances.

The 1929-30 season saw the Seasiders claim their inaugural Division title and achieve promotion to the First Division at long last. Relegation in 1933 was only a temporary setback as the club gained automatic promotion following a successful 1936-37 campaign, which included their first Lancashire Senior Cup in 1936 and the second in 1937.

Although the advent of World War II caused the abandonment of League Football, ironically the hiatus served Blackpool well. In the 1941-42 season, they won the Northern League championship. Then, they captured their third Lancashire Senior Cup in 1942 and went on to claim the Football League War Cup in 1943.

During the post-War period, the club’s winning ways continued. First, they managed a third-place finish in Division One in 1950-51. Next, they won their first FA Cup in 1953 and a fourth Lancashire Senior Cup in 1954. They were the League’s runners-up in 1955-56, and the very next season saw them in fourth place, causing many to call the 1950s “Blackpool’s Golden Era.”

What goes up must inevitably come down, of course. In 1960-61 the team just narrowly avoided relegation, winding up in 20th position. Struggle as they might, the Tangerines could finish no higher than 13th position before demotion to the Second Division finally arrived in 1966-67.

The next decade opened on a brighter note, with automatic promotion following the 1969-70 season. In 1971, yet another valuable piece of silverware was added to the Bloomfield Road trophy case—the Anglo-Italian Cup—won with a tournament-ending victory over Bologna 2-1 at Italy’s Stadio Renato Dall’Ara.

Then, the darkness fell in earnest over Blackpool. They were relegated to the Second Division in 1972, the beginning of a downward spiral that would land them in the basement of Division Four by the start of the 1980s. It took the club until 1985 to climb back up to Division Three, but they slipped again and had to win a play-off in 1991-92 to escape the cellar and enter the Premier League’s new Division Two (old Divisions Three).

The resurgence of the Tangerines has been marked by a string of new trophies, including a hat trick of Lancashire Senior Cup victories in 1994-96, a pair of Football League Trophy wins in 2002 and 2004, and the South West Challenge Cup triumph in 2010.

The climb back to top-flight football has not been easy for the Seasiders, but they gained a spot in the Championship League in 2007 and used it as a stepping stone to the Premiership following the 2009-10 season. Although they were unable to hold on to that status in 2010-11, it is a good bet they will be in the hunt to return to the top ranks in 2012, as scrappy and game as ever.

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